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The Materiome

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Biomateriomics

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Materials Science ((SSMATERIALS,volume 165))

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Abstract

The goal of materiomics is the complete understanding of the materiome—a holistic characterization of a complex material system. The balance of form and function throughout Nature is well recognized, but the materiome must enhance a basic characterization of complex biological phenomena, to enable the prediction and design of new technologies. Analogous to genomics and other “-omic” fields, there is an obvious difference in scope between a gene or genetic sequence, and the human genome. Here, we establish the scope of the materiome beyond the assembly of material components (e.g., architecture or structure), the fundamental difference between application and function, the concept of material behavior scaling, as well as the challenges (and benefits) imposed by material hierarchies and complexity. Material and structure are no longer distinct, and the assembly of building blocks ranges across all scales from the nano to the macro level.

The structure of tissues and their functions are two aspects of the same thing. One cannot consider them separately. Each structural detail possesses its functional expression. It is through physiological aptitudes of their anatomical parts that the life of the higher animals is rendered possible… Tissues are endowed with potentialities far greater than those which are apparent.

Alexis Carrel, Science, Vol. 73, No. 1890, pp. 297–303 (1931)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “…the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something besides the parts.”, Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book H, 1045a:8–10.

  2. 2.

    That is not to say, however, that we cannot improve on the properties of current widely used materials such as copper. Recent approaches have successfully enhanced the yield strength and ductility copper nanowires and films through a process of nanotwinning [43–45], exploiting the behavior of grain boundaries at the molecular scale. Improvements are possible, but such improvements can only enhance the intrinsic properties—new applications for copper may indeed emerge in electronics, biochips, NEMS, and many others, but if and only if the “new” enhanced properties satisfy the requirements of the chosen application.

  3. 3.

    Actin is a type of globular protein found in all eukaryotic cells in species as diverse as algae and humans, and is one of the three major components of the cytoskeleton. Actin participates in many important cellular processes including muscle contraction, cell motility, cell division and cytokinesis, vesicle and organelle movement, cell signaling, and the establishment and maintenance of cell junctions and cell shape.

  4. 4.

    Keratin refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins, the key structural material making up the outer layer of human skin and the key structural component of hair and nails. It is part of the family of intermediate filament proteins.

  5. 5.

    The butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions where a small change at one point in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state. The effect is coined after a thought experiment, where a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan can directly lead to creation of a hurricane in Florida.

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  1. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Steven W. Cranford & Markus J. Buehler

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Cranford, S.W., Buehler, M.J. (2012). The Materiome. In: Biomateriomics. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 165. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1611-7_2

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